Soraya practiced the conversation in her head, and by the time they reached her room, she was calmer.
Before Azad’s banquet, she had left the candelabra at the far end of the table—the signal for Parvaneh not to appear—and it remained there still. As long as Soraya didn’t move it, she could pretend that Parvaneh should have come by now. She gestured to a shadowy part of her room beyond the table where Azad could hide, and he nodded, tightening the rope between his hands.
“She may not come,” Soraya said quickly. “We fought the last time we spoke. I told her I was finished with her.”
Azad laughed softly and took Soraya’s head in his hands, the rope around his wrist scratching her cheek. “I hope that isn’t the case, Soraya. Because if she doesn’t appear tonight, I’ll think you were lying to me, and I’ll have to take measures to ensure that you don’t betray me again. What was it you said before? That as long as I have your family, you’re under my control? I’ll make you a deal, then. If I capture Parvaneh tonight, I will let your family live—other than your brother, of course. But if Parvaneh doesn’t appear tonight, or if she escapes me, then I will start to kill them one by one every time you defy me, beginning with your brother’s pretty bride.”
He released her face and went to conceal himself in the shadowed alcove, only the yellow of his eyes revealing his position. Soraya fought to control her breathing as she counted one, two, three seconds. She stepped forward and slid the candelabra across the table to rest in front of her.
A few seconds passed, and Soraya felt more and more ill with each one. Her vision was blurring, and her mouth was bitter with the taste of bile. She kept hearing Parvaneh’s voice in her mind, asking, Are you still with me? She wished she had said yes—full-heartedly, in every way possible, yes. She wished she had one more memory of joy between them before she would have to see the hurt and betrayal in those eyes that had captivated Soraya from the start.
From the corner of her vision, Soraya saw a flutter of wings, and then Parvaneh appeared beside the table, her back—her wings—to Azad.
Soraya wanted to say something to warn her, or to apologize at least, but any indication of loyalty to Parvaneh would make Azad suspicious.
Parvaneh shook her head slightly. “What’s the matter, Soraya? Are you still angry with me?” At the same time, Soraya saw Azad peel away from the shadows, approaching silently with the rope taut between his hands.
“Of course I’m still angry with you,” Soraya said. Despite her effort to muster some conviction, her voice sounded lifeless. “You lied to me.”
As if he had been waiting to hear Soraya say those words first, Azad struck, lunging forward to bind Parvaneh’s wings with the rope with expert speed. Parvaneh thrashed and struggled against him, but he used the rope to pull Parvaneh back against him as they tightened around her wings, and one of his hands came to encircle her throat, holding her head still.
Soraya couldn’t stop a tear from running down her cheek as she stood rigidly apart from the two of them, her hands clenched at her sides. She couldn’t speak—if she opened her mouth, the words I’m sorry would spill out.
“Parvaneh,” Azad said, the name a low growl in his throat. “Haven’t you missed me? We’ve been together so long, I can’t imagine what you would do without me.”
With his hand still around her throat, Parvaneh choked out a laugh. “Do you think I care what you do to me? I’ve freed my sisters from you. That’s all that matters to me.”
“I’ll simply hunt them down again. It’s been at least a year since I caught one of you—I was starting to grow bored.”
He pushed her forward, and she landed on the ground in front of Soraya, her wings tightly bound behind her, still connected to the rope in Azad’s hand. I could unbind her, Soraya thought. If I do it quickly enough, she can transform—and then Laleh would die, followed by the others.
Parvaneh pushed herself up and looked at Soraya through a sheet of black hair. “You’ve made your choice, then,” she said. “I knew you would join him in the end.”
Soraya frowned, her confusion genuine. “What do you mean?”
Parvaneh laughed again but her eyes were hard and cold. “You’re too alike. I’ve known it since the dungeon. Every time I spoke to you, it was like speaking to him, all those years ago. I thought I could stop you from making his mistakes, but I should have known it was pointless.” Her face twisted into a grimace. “You deserve each other.”
“On your feet.” Azad tugged sharply on the rope, and Parvaneh hissed in pain. “You’ve said enough.”
“Congratulations, Azad,” she said, his name sounding like an insult on her tongue as she rose to her feet. Even though she addressed Azad, her eyes remained on Soraya as she spoke. “You finally found someone as wretched and despicable as you are. I would keep her close if I were you.”
The sting of Parvaneh’s words was all the more painful considering how close Soraya had come to succumbing to Azad tonight. Was there truth in what she was saying, or was she only speaking out of anger, lashing out because she had been betrayed? Soraya trembled with the effort of not speaking, knowing that if she challenged Parvaneh now or told her how wrong she was, Azad would know her true loyalties.
“I’m sorry it happened this way,” was all she could trust herself to say in a small, shaky voice.
“I’m sure you are,” Parvaneh replied with a sneer.
Azad held her by the back of her neck and guided her toward the door. Anger spiked through Soraya as she watched his smug, retreating form. He owned her now. The only way she could ever escape him was to cut her heartstrings and abandon all the people she had betrayed.
Before he led Parvaneh out, Azad turned back to Soraya and said, “You’ve proven yourself to me tonight, in more ways than one. I’ll return tomorrow.” He left her then, taking Parvaneh with him.
Soraya couldn’t move. She stood rooted to where she was standing, as if time would stop if she simply never moved again. Her anger had faded now, snuffed out as soon as Azad and Parvaneh were gone. She had always wanted to extinguish the persistent spark of anger that burned deep in her heart, so sure that it would turn her into a monster. She hadn’t realized that her anger could only exist because she still had hope. Once hope was gone, there was no point in fighting, and so she had no need for anger anymore.
Soraya finally found a reason to move. She went to the table and blew out the candles, leaving her in darkness.
* * *
Without even the candles to help her determine the passage of time, Soraya had no idea how long she had been lying curled up on the ground, hot tears pouring out of her tightly shut eyes. She wished for sleep, for a temporary reprieve from thought and memory, but instead, she spent the time sinking into a kind of waking nightmare, too awake to find peace, but too exhausted in every possible way to pull herself out of it.
After what must have been hours, Soraya managed to open her eyes and found two round orange beams pointed at her.
She sat up in a flurry of groggy confusion, her head aching. It was too dark to see anything except for the orange lights glowing at her from the direction of the table. The orange lights emitted a low, hooting sound, and Soraya understood.